Beauty and the Thief
by Sky23345
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki is the top thief in the land of fire, but before he knows it fate leads him to a girl who's life has been rough. The two become partners in crime, but with the threat of a secret crime organization looming, what dangers await them?
1. Confrontation

**A/N: Just another idea I had. At first I thought "Maybe some other day." But it rapidly developed and I basically have a plot for this story laid out. Please, please, PLEASE review, it helps my writing AND makes the chapters come out faster ;) So…REVIEW! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; all credit goes to Kishimoto-sama.**

The sound of horse's feet stepping the ground filled the 18 year's old head. Both his and his pursuers.

"Go faster damnit…" The blonde muttered as his pursuers slowly shortened the distance between the two. "Fine, be like that, I'll do this myself…" He muttered to the horse.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yelled, putting his hands in a cross form. Suddenly two exact replications of the teen and the horse appeared, each one riding off in a different direction.

Two of the pursuers shot their arrows to each replication respectively, and after hitting their backs the replication would disappear in a puff of smoke, until there was none left.

"This one is the one!" One of the pursuers yelled, as the others joined him.

Suddenly the blonde boy's horse tripped, spraying ground everywhere as it fell. He was in the middle of the forest.

"Useless animal…" Naruto angrily muttered as he picked himself up, dirt staining his black cloak.

"Turn yourself in, Uzumaki Naruto!" One forcefully as he dismounted his horse just like his two partners.

"Yeah, you'd like that wouldn't you?" Naruto snickered.

"_I didn't want to, but time to get to business." _

Naruto Uzumaki was the biggest thief in the history of the land of fire, stealing anything that was valuable and although he currently had not stolen anything, he was still pursued every day of his life, but Naruto didn't really complain. To him, life was one big adventure. He wore a black cloak over his black and orange jumpsuit, had medium-length, spiky blonde hair, and blue eyes. He had a Ninjato strapped on his back hip-section, meant for unsheathing it better and faster.

**(Note: If you don't know what a ninjato is, it was a one-bladed weapon that was used by ninjas in Ancient Japan. It was smaller and VERY similar to the traditional Katana, but was longer than a dagger, and was primarily used as a fast-attack weapon.)**

"We are the three bounty-hunters of Konohagakure, Akihiro, Daiki, and me, Ichiro." Ichiro exclaimed. "And we are known as the Death Brothers! And unless you give up now you will know why!"

Naruto only snorted. "You three are taking me too light." He said, starting to get annoyed.

Both Akihiro and Daiki used bow and arrows to attack with a small dagger, while Ichiro used a Katana as a primary attack. They all wore the same kind of samurai-like suit, with less protection and more speed intention in it. Akihiro was bald with some peach fuzz, while Daiki had his long hair tied in a pony tail. Ichiro had medium length hair tied into a tiny ponytail.

"Or perhaps it is the other way around." Daiki said. He was extremely calm in all situations unlike his brother Akihiro.

"Let's teach him!" Akihiro yelled.

"Daiki, Akihiro, formation 1-2-1." Ichiro said. The two brothers nodded as they ran.

The two bow-using samurai ran at Naruto, unsheathing their dagger as they aimed for his ribs. It was so sudden that Naruto did not have time to react as the two shoved their daggers on either side of his rib section. He groaned as Ichiro ran at Naruto, Katana in hand. He stabbed Naruto on the stomach, ripping through his skin like butter.

"Bad luck kid, the Hokage doesn't care whether you're brought dead or alive." Ichiro said digging the Katana further as Naruto winced.

"But we'll take first one." Akihiro finished.

"I…I told you not to take me lightly." Naruto growled.

"What does it matter, you're a goner, even if you escape you'll die from your injuries." Daiki differed.

Naruto lifted his head before chuckling. "I guess you didn't count this in your small, idiotic plan." He finished before raising his hand and doing the "release" hand sign. He disappeared in a puff of smoke as the three brothers stood there, stabbing nothing.

"What? A replication?" Akihiro yelled.

"Thanks for telling us Akihiro; I don't think we would have survived if you hadn't said that." Daiki said, putting his dagger back in its sheath and taking out his bow.

"Smart ass…" Akihiro said, doing the same.

"Guys stop fighting, he's running away remember?" Ichiro said, separating the two.

"Nope, I'm not." The real Naruto said, leaning on one of the trees.

"Heh, you little prick, you should've ran away." Akihiro said.

"I could tell you the same." Naruto smirked.

"This kid is all big talk." Ichiro said. "Go get him."

Daiki aimed his bow as Akihiro ran at him, dagger in hand.

"Die!" Akihiro yelled as he lunged at Naruto. He quickly dodged it before kicking his back, making him fall on the ground.

Daiki let go of the arrow as it flew towards Naruto's back. Naruto did a backflip, avoiding the arrow as well. Akihiro got back up and lunged once more, being avoided once more. Almost simultaneously, Daiki let another arrow loose as Naruto quickly grabbed Akihiro by the arm and pulled him towards him, using him as a human shield. The arrow flew and hit Akihiro straight in the heart. He gasped as it pierced his body, making a small amount of blood come out of the sealed wound.

"Akihiro!" Ichiro yelled as Naruto threw him on the floor. He fell with a small 'plop' on the soft grass as both Daiki and Ichiro stood in shock.

"One down, two to go." Naruto said, with a deadly calmness in his voice.

"I'll kill you, you bastard!" Ichiro yelled as he ran towards Naruto, katana in hand.

Naruto jumped and dodged him before using his body flicker technique, appearing a few feet away from Daiki in less than a second, ignoring Ichiro for now. He quickly unsheathed his ninjato before slashing it across Daiki's neck. It had been so fast that Naruto's blade didn't even have blood in it. Daiki stood for a second before falling on his knees and finally plopping on the floor, dying fast by the second but unable to move.

"Hmm… I guess Konoha's current Hokage didn't have a big budget if he hired you bozos." Naruto taunted.

Ichiro growled. How could it be? Naruto killed his two brothers like nothing!

"_Who, no, what is this guy?" _Ichiro thought, holding his Katana up.

Naruto charged at Ichiro, ninjato in hand. He used his body flicker technique once more, but Ichiro saw it coming and the sound of clashing metal filled the air as their swords clashed with each other. Naruto jumped back and retreated before doing his usual cross-like sign. This time five shadow clones appeared, only one clone ran at the bounty-hunter while the others circled him. Ichiro, not knowing what to do, stood still, confused.

"_First strike." _Naruto thought.

The clone that ran towards him punched him, making him retreat a bit while the real Naruto used the clone's back as a jumping device. He put his feet on the clone's back and jumped high in the air, while his other clones kept their circle formation and ran at him preparing to kick him.

"_Second strike."_

"U-!"

"-ZU!"

"-MA!"

"-KI!"

The four clones yelled in unison as they kicked him into the air.

"Naruto rendan!"

The Naruto that had jumped in the air lifted his leg and quickly let it go down; hitting Ichiro's back-side of his head. He plummeted towards the ground and face-planted it before all the shadow clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, having finished their duty.

"_Third strike, you're out." _

"Not too shabby huh?" Naruto said, having a grin on his face before walking towards his opponent once more.

He turned him around and took out his ninjato once more, softly putting the blade to the bounty-hunter's neck.

"Alright now who hired you?" Naruto inquired, his face serious once more.

"I-It was the leaf's hokage, Danzo." He said. He was too weak to fight back.

"Hmm." Naruto said. "For what purpose?" He thought he knew, but if someone like the Hokage had hired bounty-hunters to kill him, it might be a different story than what he had imagined.

"We didn't receive any info on it; all we knew is that it was an assassination order." He said.

"D-Don't kill me!" He begged.

Naruto sighed. He didn't like killing people, but if he let him live he would spill valuable information to the leaf, and hiding from the pesky bounty-hunter's would be harder and harder.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto softly apologized before running his blade through his neck, killing him instantly. Naruto slowly closed Ichiro's eyes before picking himself up, slightly saddened.

He had been his opponent, but even so, he still hated being regarded as a death machine. He wasn't heartless; it was just that people never gave him the light of the day to know him. His real him.

"I think I heard something over here!" Naruto suddenly heard someone yell, not too far away, the sound of horse's hoofs getting louder.

"Darn…" Naruto muttered as he jumped on the branch of a tree and jumped from tree to tree with expertise.

He summoned four shadow clones, instructing them to stall the pursuers. The shadow clones ran at the enemy while the real Naruto skipped through trees, trying to find a refuge.

After a while he heard the horse's hooves once more. They must have landed some blows on his clones. He created five shadow clones this time and changed his direction. After a while he heard the sound of an explosion and turned around, seeing smoke and debris flying in separate directions. His heart was beating loudly as he ran, trying to avoid being seen. He had to find a place to hide, and soon.

And he finally found it after five more minutes. Towering not too far away from him, there stood a magnificent house. It was lying on the other side of a small road. Its walls were tall and white, with not many windows, and before it laid a beautiful garden, full of only the prettiest flowers. But that wasn't exactly good. If there was such a well taken-care-of house in the forest, it most likely meant someone lived in it. But he had no choice of whether to be picky or not.

He landed on the floor and quickly approached the house. When he finally got to it, he added chakra to his feet and quickly climbed up it, aiming for the first window he could find.

XxXxXxXxXxX

A lavender-haired girl ran to her bed-room, a crying mess. Her strict father had once again verbally-abused her, and even slapped her across the cheek, with such strength that it still hurt incredibly when she touched it. She slowly wiped away her tears as she steadily got closer to her room, sick of her mess of a life.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto finally got to the room, opened the window, and snuck inside as the hoofs of horses got closer. He quickly made the hand signs for the camouflage technique as he slowly blended in with the background. He looked around the empty room. It was extremely tidy, with shelves with books stacked neatly on them and the bed made perfectly corner by corner. He slowly looked out the window only to see his pursuers gallop past the house, trying to find him. There were six in all.

He sighed in relief and waited a few more seconds before walking towards the window once more, but suddenly heard the door of the room being opened. He cursed himself and slowly stepped back. A crying girl walked in with a red cheek and tears streaking her somewhat pale face. She tossed herself on her bed as her long hair fell in disarray and sobbed.

Although Naruto didn't generally care about anyone, he felt somewhat sorry for the girl. It must have been one hell of a slap to get someone like that.

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa, Uzumaki, you're only here to hide, not to socialize." _He reminded himself. Since the girl was laying face first on her bed, it was the perfect chance for him to quickly escape.

He walked to the window once more and was about to open it fast before noticing that the girl was looking where he was standing. He looked down at himself, it was impossible for her to see him, he was completely camouflaged. But he closely looked at her eyes and gasped slightly. Veins seemed to be drawn towards her eyes.

"_Oh crap, she's one of the Hyugga's! Her eyes can still see me!" _He was in trouble. Real trouble, he had no idea he had landed in one of the Hyugga's house.

"W-Who are you?" The girl timidly asked as Naruto stood frozen.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed that, please review, it'll make chapters come out faster!**


	2. Hinata's second chance

**A/N: Hey Sky here! Second chapter, please review and give me suggestions, it makes everything worthwhile… Plus it makes chapters come out faster ;) So basically it's a win-win situation for everyone :D Please enjoy it!**

**I don't own Naruto in any way; all it's character belong to Kishimoto. **

"Uh…" Naruto said. He sighed and slowly released his jutsu, seeing that it had been rendered useless.

The girl gasped.

"Y-You're t-that thief I've heard about!" She quietly said.

"Yeah, yeah, don't praise me, end of story I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He said with a small grin on his face. "But the point is I have no business with you or any of the Hyugga's, so I'll just leave."

"But t-then why a-are you here?" She softly asked.

"I was only using your room as a place to hide." He said.

"Oh…"

Naruto did not want to socialize any more so he slowly unhinged the window.

Meanwhile, thoughts raced through Hinata's mind. She wasn't sure whether she should tell the authorities or not, but after all, like he said, he had no business with them and he had done her no harm.

Hinata wiped away some tears, sick of her life. She was always being verbally abused by her family for being a failure, and was always outdone by her sister, Hanabi. Her life was just one big mess that grew bigger with each day. But suddenly, a crazy idea popped into her mind.

"_N-No! I'm the Hyugga heiress, I couldn't possibly do that!" _ She thought, trying to discard that idea.

But she was sick of being the Hyugga heiress. Everyone expected so much of her, and when she didn't live up to people's expectations, she was reprimanded for it and it made her life a living hell. She never complained and always tried harder, but inside she was actually a very sad person. Maybe she should try. She took a deep breath before stepping forward, not believing that she was going to do what she was about to do.

"Um… C-Can I ask you s-something?" She squeaked as Naruto turned around to the sound of her voice.

"Please make it quick, and no personal questions." Naruto said, rushed. Eventually the pursuers would note that they had been fooled and would retrace their steps.

"I um… I was wondering if… uh… If you could maybe use a partner?" She finally squeaked.

Naruto stood frozen on the spot, taken completely by surprise. He **must **have heard wrong.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He asked.

"I thought… I t-thought maybe you could use an e-extra p-pair of hands..." Hinata said, looking at the floor.

Naruto only stared at her.

"What's your name?" He said, his voice suddenly not having much emotion.

"H-Hinata H-Hyugga." She said.

"Alright Hinata, look, you'll have a good life, then you'll marry someone nice, you'll have a family and then you'll live happily ever after." He said. "However, the kind of life I carry out is not befitting of you."

"I-I'm not weak, I can t-take it!" She said, feeling tears spring into her eyes.

He looked at her for a few seconds, holding on to his answer as he shook his head. He quickly climbed out of the window, giving her one more glance before sliding down the house, leaving a now crying Hinata behind him. It had been her only chance she had had to have genuine freedom from her miserable life, and it had just gone down the drain. She quickly ran to her window and looked down as Naruto ran away, leaving no trace of his appearance behind him. The sun was now setting.

"I'm not useless…" She sobbed, putting her hands to her face.

But then a second crazy idea popped into her head. If she was so sick of her life, why not run away herself? If she could really take it, then she should be able to survive on her own! So she quickly gathered some scrolls, a few kunai and shuriken, and jumped out of the window, landing softly on the grass. She put a face of confidence on and quickly ran silently, making sure of making no noise. She didn't stop until she was in the forest, far enough from her home. She bit her lip in celebration that she was now free, she would no longer have to put up with the pressure of being the heiress, she would no longer have to endure grueling training sessions, and she would no longer be reprimanded for doing things wrong. She could do whatever she wanted now, she was her own boss.

But suddenly she heard rustling in the leaves. Not normal animal rustling, it was something bigger. She quickly activated her byakugan and scanned the area.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto ran through the trees, many thoughts running through his mind. For one, he needed to gain some distance away from his pursuers until he was "safe" and on the other hand, he couldn't stop thinking of that girl. Although he really didn't care about much people, he did feel a little sorry for her. He had never felt sorry for anyone in his life though. He quickly shook that thought off and focused on his main problem before hearing a yell. A girl's yell, high-pitched and obviously crying for help, but it was immediately shushed. Naruto stopped on one of the branches and looked back as birds scattered out of the forest. It sounded like Hinata.

He stood still on the spot. If she was in danger, it was his fault for including her into his mess. But then that would mean he'd have to confront the bounty-hunters, and he didn't really want to kill another person today. Naruto tightened the grip in his hand as he cursed himself and ran back towards where he had heard the yell. After a while he suddenly stopped, sensing that there were people hidden in the bushes. He slowly started to take out his ninjato before some kunai were hurled at him, which he easily dodged as he landed on the soft grass. Ten or so kunai were stuck on the branch he had been.

"Naruto Uzumaki eh?" A man said, coming out of the shadows as his chuckle bellowed through the darkening day.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, focusing his sight on how many goons there were. "Where is she?" He asked.

"Right here." Another man said, holding an unconscious Hinata in front of him, tied in ropes and a blade in front of her neck, threatening to take away her life.

These bounty-hunters knew Naruto all too well. They must have somehow seen Naruto and Hinata talking, and must have taken her somehow. Naruto unsheathed his ninjato and put it in front of him. He knew he shouldn't have stayed there too long.

"Now, now, let's not get hasty here." The first man said as suddenly the rest of his men came out of the shadows, each carrying a katana or a knife. "We have the advantage here, with more men and a hostage-"

"-And she gets it unless you turn yourself in." Another finished.

Naruto narrowed his eyes once more, but this time in concentration, his whole mind focused on how to save both himself and Hinata. He closed his eyes and focused his chakra before opening them once more.

"Shunshin no jutsu!" He said as he used the body flicker technique.

The man that was holding Hinata tried to slash his knife across her neck, but was quickly intercepted by Naruto, who grabbed hold of her and slashed his blade across the bounty hunter's body. A gash was now on his body as the blow made him lose his balance and fall through the trees, yelling.

Naruto groaned as he carried Hinata through the forest, trying to run away. Using the body flicker technique too much dropped his chakra levels, and jumping from tree to tree carrying an unconscious girl really didn't help as the pursuers tried to close in on him. One even threw a kunai at him, that Naruto didn't dodge completely as it slashed across his arm before hitting a tree. Naruto groaned once more, cursing himself for getting into such a mess. He needed to lose them somehow, and fast before his chakra level went to zero. Finally an idea popped into his head.

He took out the last three poisonous smoke bombs he had and took out some caltrops. He threw the caltrops behind him, making his pursuers stop, and almost simultaneously threw the smoke bombs. He heard the men coughing as the leader told them to regroup instead of going through the smoke.

"_Yeah, wise idea, one whiff of that and you're dead." _Naruto thought.

He quickly changed his direction before jumping as fast as he could, and after a while his muscles screamed that they could go no more. He jumped to the ground and set Hinata down before plopping himself on to the cold grass. He could go no more since his chakra was dangerously low. Trying any jutsu right now would make Naruto's chakra go to zero immediately and he would inevitably die. He looked at the unconscious Hinata, gritting his teeth and silently thanking her for getting him into a huge mess he would have rather avoided. He slowly sat up and put his back to a tree as he focused on his arm's gash. It was dripping blood down his clothes and staining the ground as it dripped. Naruto sighed as he took out a scroll that held band-aids and other basic medical things sealed inside. He quickly bit his thumb and ran his thumb's blood across it as the materials appeared in a puff of smoke. He quickly treated himself before sealing everything back into the scroll and putting it back in his pouch. He cut off Hinata's ropes and sat back into a crossed-leg position, standing guard at the now darkened night, before remembering the other useful scrolls he had. He took out the scroll that held a tent in it, and summoned it as a tent appeared in a puff of smoke. He slowly picked Hinata up and put her inside before walking back out.

He only sighed, slightly annoyed at Hinata. If it weren't for his pursuers, he would ship her back to the Hyugga compound. As far as he was concerned, he worked solo. But then again, Hyugga's were great scanners, being able to see everything with their byakugan, and that was definitely a spot Naruto was weak at. He had received numerous injuries before from not being able to tell where the enemy was, and although he had gotten better at it, there were often times when he would guess wrong. Who knew, maybe the next time would cost him his life?

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata woke up with a small headache. She moaned as she sat up, rubbing her head.

"_W-What happened…?" _She thought, her eyes half closed. Her whole body ached to be exact.

Suddenly memories rushed back at her. She had been in the forest when a man had come out of the bushes and knocked her unconscious after binding her with ropes. She had been no match for the man, and she couldn't remember much after that. She looked around, recognizing the place she was resting in as a tent. She looked down at her body only to see she had no ropes tying her together.

"_What's going on?" _She thought once more, slightly nervous.

For all she knew she could still be taken hostage. Maybe she was being held hostage for a ransom. That thought instantly made Hinata a little sad as she was pretty sure that her father would not pay one penny for her return, and would probably be a blessing to him. She slowly crawled over to the flaps of what worked as a door to the tent, and opened it only so she could see who was there. There was a small fire that was being tended with a stick by a blonde boy. The same one who had been in her room.

She gasped quietly, hoping that Naruto hadn't heard her, and although he hadn't turned around, he had heard her.

"Awake already?" Naruto said, poking at the fire. "Well it's about time."

He turned towards her and gave her a small grin. As he had turned his wound on his arm was visible, where it was strapped by some cloth that had a red stain on it.

Hinata, knowing that she had been discovered, slowly walking out of the tent. It was a cold night and she gingerly got close to the fire.

"Um… W-What h-happened?" She asked, not looking at him.

"You kinda got kidnapped by the baddies, I was forced to either turn myself in or you would get killed, neither happened, and here I am." He said, giving almost no details. His story hadn't really helped Hinata in the slightest bit.

Naruto only laughed at Hinata's expression, a mixture of both confusion and relief.

Hinata looked back at the fire, knowing that after tonight she'd have to go back to her hell of a life.

"Anyways, I put some thought into it, and who knows; maybe going solo isn't exactly the best idea." He mumbled as he rubbed his hands together. "So… I guess you can accompany me… For now!" He finished, raising his finger at the last part.

Hinata looked up, her mouth open in surprise. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"But on one condition." Naruto said. "You have to follow my orders alright?"

Hinata nodded as Naruto's grin turned into a small smile as he once more rubbed his hands together. He suddenly walked into the tent and took out something before coming out.

"Here, this should keep you warm." He said, throwing her a cloak.

She gingerly put it on, feeling much warmer by second.

"You should get sleeping; we're traveling to the village hidden in the sand tomorrow, so you'll need plenty of rest." Naruto said.

Hinata nodded, although she was a tad-bit worried. She had never traveled away from her home, much less to another country, but she hung unto the cloak and went back into the tent, lying down.

Her last thought before she went to sleep were:

_I have a second chance._

**A/N: Sky here! I hope that wasn't too bad, I hope you enjoyed it and please review if you want chapters to come out faster. Oh and, I love CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, not flaming. If you want to flame, just send me a message ;)**


	3. First day of a new life

**A/N: Alright, as I promised, since you people have been reviewing and taking time out of your life to read my story, I'll throw chapters out faster. See, I keep my promises :)**

**I don't own Naruto, yada yada yada; let's get going with the story.**

"Hinata! Hinata!" The young girl heard someone yell.

Hinata Hyugga slowly woke up as Naruto shook her by the shoulders.

"Finally!" Naruto exclaimed as she slowly opened her eyes. "You slept like a bear!"

Hinata moaned as she slowly picked herself up, her legs aching. She wanted to go back to sleep really bad, but Naruto was the boss, the thought making her laugh in her mind. Her life was going to be so much different now. Naruto helped her get up as the two exited the tent, making Hinata see that it was barely dawn. The sky had an orange tint to it and made the sky look really beautiful. Hinata yawned and stretched as Naruto packed up, making sure to leave no evidence of his being there. Hinata was really tired.

Almost as if reading her mind, Naruto looked at her. "Here have this, it should keep you awake." He said passing her a small and red container containing some liquid.

Hinata looked at it. It was in the form of a cylinder and the top came off. She slowly took it out, revealing a white-ish liquid inside which smelled bad. She slowly picked it up to her lips as she let it run down the throat, tasting it, but quickly spit it out as it tasted repugnant. Naruto only laughed at she tried to get rid of the taste completely.

"You have to drink at least half of that thing if you want to stay alert." Naruto said after he had finished packing. "Otherwise, you'll be walking asleep."

Hinata looked at Naruto once more before putting it once more to her lips, drinking the bitter drink until she had finally drunk half of it. She gasped for air, trying to ignore the horrible flavor.

"You'll get used to the flavor." Naruto said, laughing a little. "We should get going; we have a long day of walking ahead of us."

Naruto led the way out of the forest and into the road that would take the two to Sunagakure. The two walked side by side, without a word, although it wasn't exactly an awkward silence because Hinata loved the sounds of birds chirping and other animal sounds. Before Hinata knew it, the sun was already up, rising only a tiny bit above the horizon. It looked so nice.

"Ok, here we are." Naruto said as the two exited the forest and came out unto a road.

It was narrow and peach-colored, with some rocks stuck inside it.

"This road leads to the village hidden in the sand." Naruto cheerfully said.

"N-Naruto?" It had been the first time Hinata had talked in the whole morning. Although Hinata was going to be hanging around with him, she was still quite shy.

"Hmm?" Naruto asked, looking at her.

"W-Why are y-you going t-to a v-village if you're l-looked for?" She finally asked. Why was she stuttering was a better question.

"I hoped you would ask that." Naruto said. "I'm looked for throughout the land of _fire_, not the land of wind." He explained as Hinata understood. "Much less Sunagakure. The village's current Kazekage and I go way back."

"Oh…" Hinata said as the two walked down the peach road.

By now the sun had already completely separated from the horizon as it made the sky a clear blue with a few clouds. It was starting to get somewhat chilly as well. The wind blew as the two kept on walking for two more hours until they had finally stopped.

"Here, we'll take a break." Naruto said. Hinata's legs already hurt, but she had refused to complain while Naruto felt fine.

Hinata sighed as she sat down on the soft grass while Naruto sat next to her, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Suddenly, Hinata's stomach rumbled as it begged for food. Naruto only looked at her, finding it a bit fastidious. He wouldn't have a problem about eating, but he only had two food scrolls left and he wasn't sure if it could last them the whole trip. But he did it anyways, sighing as he took out his scroll and unveiled a complete meal for both of them in a puff of white smoke. It contained all kinds of food, varying from sushi, to rice balls and ramen.

"Well dig in!" Naruto said as he grabbed some chopsticks and a bowl. "The food won't disappear by itself, now will it?"

Hinata couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had never seen so much food at once! 

She slowly grabbed some chopsticks and a bowl, and started to choose what she wanted. Back at her home she used to only be able to eat what her father told her she was allowed to eat, which usually contained vegetables and other healthy food.

Naruto only looked at her. "You're eating this as if you had never eaten this kind of food before." He said, biting on some ramen.

"T-That's b-because I haven't." Hinata softly said. It was true.

"What?" Naruto exclaimed. "Is that even possible? Sheesh, the horror you must have lived! That had to be hell and a half!"

Hinata only laughed a little. Her life had been hell and a half, but not because of food.

Naruto snickered as he grabbed some rice balls, not bothering to restrain himself from overindulging. After all, he had a long day ahead of him. However the same story wasn't for Hinata, who cautiously chose what she wanted. Naruto looked at her, raising an eyebrow before sighing once more.

"_She's so weird…" _Naruto thought.

"You can choose whatever you want you know?" Naruto said.

"I k-know, I've j-just never e-eaten this k-kind of food… It a-all looks k-kind of w-weird" Hinata said, slowly bringing some food to her mouth.

"_Great, I'm basically going to have to teach her how to eat." _Naruto said, sighing and putting one hand on his head. _"Talking about teaching her…"_

"I'm done." Naruto said, putting his bowl back down. The fact was that he was still hungry, but there was something he needed to see…

After what seemed like an eternity to Naruto, Hinata finally finished, satisfied. Naruto packed everything up again before standing up, having a grin on his face.

"Alright Hinata, I want to see what you've got." Naruto said, crossing his arms and making his grin even bigger.

"P-Pardon?" Hinata asked, confused by what Naruto meant.

"I wanna see how strong you are!" Naruto exclaimed, now smiling.

Hinata froze. She hated sparring, mostly because she was bad when it came to fighting and because she hated fighting altogether. But she didn't really have a choice, he seemed really eager to know her abilities, although she knew she'd disappoint him, getting a little sad at the thought. But she just nodded and stood up.

"Don't bother holding back alright?" Naruto said as Hinata nodded. She knew, no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to even come close to a match to him.

Naruto threw his ninjato on the floor. He was going to try and rely on his taijutsu alone as to be fair with her. She got into the "gentle fist" stance and activated her Byakugan, making veins draw towards her eyes, now being able to see his chakra flow as she added chakra to her palms.

"_The gentle fist huh? I've heard about that, they just need to graze you for it to hurt. I better be careful." _Naruto thought, already trying to make a strategy.

"You can make the first move." Naruto said, taking off his cloak as his black and orange jumpsuit came into view.

Hinata nodded, somewhat nervous. She knew Naruto said not to hold back, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that. She had never liked hurting people.

Hinata ran at Naruto, doing a twirl before aiming at his chest, easily missing as Naruto stepped aside and softly put his palm to her rib-side.

"Dead." Naruto said, chuckling a bit. "If this were a real fight, you'd be dead by now, never let your guard down." He said as Hinata nodded and looked at him. Usually she had been corrected by yells and loud scolding. "Let's start again."

He jumped a few feet away from her as Hinata adjusted her pose once more. She ran at him once more, trying to see through his movement. She pretended an attack as Naruto moved out of the way, executing her actual offence on him as he dodged. She didn't miss, but instead was blocked by Naruto's arm as he grabbed her wrist and moved it away from his chest. Hinata used her other hand and aimed at his chest once more as Naruto saw through it and grabbed her wrist once more before jumping back.

"You need to be faster, don't let me catch your attack." Naruto said.

"A-Alright." Hinata said, putting his advice into her head, planning to apply it to her next attack.

Naruto only looked at Hinata. "I can tell you don't like fighting, but if you're going to stick around there will be many times when you'll have to rely on your combat skills." Naruto said as Hinata looked at him. "This time, I want you to attack me with all that you have; I don't want you holding back this time."

"B-But I wasn't h-holding back…" Hinata softly said.

"I know you can do better." Naruto said, getting a tad-bit annoyed at her lack of self-confidence. "You just don't believe you can. Believe in yourself, Hinata."

No one had ever spoken to Hinata that way. She'd always be scolded on how she was worthless and how she wasn't fit to be a Hyugga, unlike her sister. But it seemed that Naruto didn't take that same way of treatment, it seemed that Naruto believed in the power that lies within people, instead of just focusing on raw power.

"_Believe in myself…" _Hinata repeated in her mind before getting in her stance once more and putting a face of determination on.

Naruto smiled as he saw that his partner was now starting to actually use her capabilities. Hinata ran at Naruto as fast as she could, before jumping to the right and attacking. Naruto blocked it, but wasn't able to catch and counter-attack her, as she used her other arm to attack. He blocked that one too, but wasn't able to catch it either, her pace fastening as she attacked with each arm one after the other, and it made it harder each time for Naruto to avoid her deadly palms. Even Hinata herself couldn't believe the way she was fighting. She eventually attacked relentlessly, one palm after the other and Naruto was actually starting to have a hard time blocking her. Suddenly she aimed at his neck, coming as a surprise for Naruto as he quickly blocked it with his arm that was injured from the previous day.

The sudden act made Naruto's arm injury have a sudden but great spasm as pain, distracting him as he groaned, leaving his guard down, much to Hinata's favor, as she saw the opening in his guard.

"_Here!" _She said, already launching her palm forward.

"_Crap!" _Naruto said waiting for the blow, knowing there was no way for him to block that one.

And sure enough he was right, as Hinata's palm dug into his stomach area, lurching him back for a millisecond before pushing him back as he floated in the air for a second and then fell down hard on the ground, his stomach registering pain. Hinata stood still, panting and waiting for Naruto's response, expecting a scolding of some kind. But instead Naruto got up, laughing and holding his stomach –which hurt- as he looked at her.

"Wow that was really good for your first sparring with me!" Naruto congratulated her. "You're pretty strong! You just need some refining, but trust me, you have so much potential!" He exclaimed.

Hinata smiled brightly. She had never really been complimented for the outcome of her fighting, and especially not to this extent. The sun beat down on both of them, making them sweat more than they were already. Naruto laughed a little bit more before plopping down on the grass, knowing his stomach would have a bruise later on. Seeing it as a "go" sign, Hinata sat down, completely tired.

She was really ecstatic. For once in her life, she was proud of herself.

"I told you! If you believe in yourself, your possibilities are endless, so don't lack self-confidence." He said, sitting up and winking at her.

Hinata only blushed a bit, looked at the ground, and nodded. Suddenly, Naruto's stomach rumbled, but Hinata didn't notice it.

"_Not now Uzumaki, not now." _A voice inside of Naruto's head said, as he nodded in approvance. He didn't have any food to spare; he'd have to rationalize it wisely, in contrast to just stuffing his face whenever he felt like it.

He sighed as the two sat down for a few more minutes.

"Alright, we better get going." Naruto said standing up and picking up his cloak from the floor, putting it on. After all it was getting a bit chilly.

Hinata nodded and did the same as the two walked down the peach road once more.

"Now, you aren't going to be able to survive just by the gentle fist ya' know?" Naruto said, looking ahead of him.

Hinata looked at him, not catching his flow.

"What I mean is, since you're traveling with me, over the time people will notice that you're my partner. Therefore they will analyze your techniques as well. So you have to give them something else to think about, not just the gentle fist." Naruto explained.

Hinata looked down at the road, somewhat troubled. All the techniques besides the gentle fist were pretty difficult, and she had never been able to do them correctly.

As if reading her mind, Naruto kept going. "And I'm not talking about the Hyugga's techniques." He continued as Hinata looked at him, surprised. "What I mean is developing _ your own_ techniques." He said.

"B-But how d-do I do t-that?" She asked.

"Easy, I can lead you through that part, but first you have to base your techniques on a foundation. Your foundation should be a part of fighting that you're good at, and I think I already know which one you're great at." Naruto said.

"W-Which one?"

"Chakra control." He said. "I could easily tell that your chakra control was above normal. That's a great basis for a technique; with that kind of base your possibilities will be endless!" He exclaimed. "But let's not get hasty here. First you'll have to master your gentle fist before doing other stuff."

"Oh y-yeah right…" She said.

The two didn't talk much as the day went on; spare a few conversations of small-talk, but nothing interesting, and the two started to slow their pace when the sun came down. After a while the tent was already up.

Naruto had gathered some logs already, as he added some chakra to the piled logs, instantly incinerating them.

"Ah, much better." Naruto said as the heat warmed him through the cold night. "You should probably get close to the fire Hinata!" He yelled after her as she was in the tent.

"A-Alright." She murmured as she came out, instantly running to the fire. She was cold, and she wasn't used to it.

Naruto only looked at her for a few seconds. "You know, for a girl who's been pampered her whole life, you're pretty tough." He said, looking back at the fire.

Hinata looked at him, not sure if it was a compliment or otherwise. She then saw the fire dance in his blue eyes, mixing with the blue. She just stared into them as Naruto looked at the fire, unaware. But she had to break her gaze as she suddenly got tired. Her eyes were already half-closed and it seemed Naruto noticed it.

"Go get some shut-eye, tomorrow will be like today, so you need all the sleep you can get." Naruto said, tending to the fire.

Hinata mentally agreed and went into the tent, before plopping down on the small and flat bed that was in it, quickly pulling her think blanket over her before trailing off to sleep.

**A/N: So anyways, I just wanted to apologize for bringing the chapter in so late, I had some major stuff going on this week and I had to push my stories aside for a while. Anyways, please review and I hope to hear your feedback.**

** -Sky**


	4. Manly affection

**A/N: Wow, I'm really happy that this story is so popular! I finally got the gist on how Fan fiction works, and so when I went to my story traffic "Beauty and the Thief" had more than 300 readers! That is incredible people, and I wouldn't be able to do this without you! Also, a big thank you to the people who take time out of their lives to review, I really appreciate it! So without further ado, I shall deliver to you nice people of awesomeness what you want, chapter four!**

**I don't own Naruto; all characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

"_Stupid kid! I always knew you would screw up like this!" _A deep voice growled.

"Oh shut up! It will be fine, I just don't have to tell her, and you don't have to intervene!" Another voice yelled.

"_It is humorous how you are giving me orders when my power could destroy villages, insolent boy." _The first voice chuckled.

"Right, well, if I remember correctly you were the one behind the cage." The blond boy smirked, taunting the red fox.

The two were in a pipe-filled, dim-lighted room, where water dripped from the ceiling and rusted pipes creaked under its structures. And before Naruto Uzumaki stood none other than the Kyubii, the Nine-Tailed fox, its head risen up in all its caged glory, the huge eyes staring down at Naruto, having bloodlust in every single inch.

"_You are pushing my buttons, boy. At one point the girl will find out, and it will be bad for both of us." _The fox growled, its fur standing on its end.

"And so what if she does? What am I supposed to do, kill her? I kill people when I need to, I don't kill people for no particular reason like you do." Naruto retorted.

"_You naïve fool! She would never be able to accept you, just like no one else did!" _The Kyubii yelled back, chuckling a bit.

Naruto balled his hand into a fist.

"Well, then we'll just have to wait and see." Naruto said, walking away, his face hidden in a mixed expression of pain and anger.

"_Mark my words boy!" _The Kyubii roared as Naruto slammed the door behind him, emitting a loud noise as the steel door shut.

The Kyubii only chuckled and retreated into the darkness of his cage.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Hinata, wake up." Naruto said, shaking her shoulder.

"W-Wha-?" Hinata mumbled, drearily opening her eyes.

"Hinata, come on, let's go." Naruto continued. "We're close to Suna; you can rest once we get there."

Hinata slowly sat up and rubbed her forehead, slowly waking up. She was completely tired, but instantly regretted that she had expressed it so much through her body language as Naruto handed her the same white, milk-like, bitter liquid that kept her awake.

Hinata held the drink in her hand, looking at Naruto. He looked like he was in a bad mood. In the form he picked up things, his facial expressions, and his tone of talking made it seem that someone had been pulling his strings. Pushing that aside, she walked out of the tent and stood up, depending that the sky would distract her from the taste of the bitter drink.

"Alright, let's get going." Naruto said, packing up faster than Hinata had thought humanly possible. Then again, Naruto was a very strange person, not to mention very mysterious.

"_A little too mysterious if you ask me…" _Hinata thought.

Hinata quickly drank down the remnants of her drink and ran after Naruto, who was already on the road towards Suna.

"W-Wait!" Hinata said, finally catching up to him.

Naruto didn't say anything, he only kept on walking, and that was how it was for a while.

"Sunagakure is right over there, see it?" Naruto calmly said after an hour and a half of silence, pointing over at what Hinata could clearly see was a border wall.

She only nodded, not even bothering to speak. Her mind was set on other matters.

XxXxXxXxXxX

They had some small talk on their way, but not anything interesting that Hinata could say had "Highlighted" her day. The sky was somewhat cloudy and it was chilly, so Hinata considered herself lucky that she was wearing the clock.

Before she knew it she was standing in front of a huge door that was open, revealing the village inside. People bustled through stores and small market stalls, while kids ran through the streets, laughing and having a great time.

"Please state your business here." Hinata looked at the person who had talked to Naruto. He was a guard, wearing a Chunnin suit with a cloth covering his neck and head-frame.

"I don't believe I need to, I was under the impression the Kazekage had already stated my being here." Naruto plainly said, looking bored.

"I was not informed of such thing. That means you will be no exception to any other person, now state your business here now or-"

"Let him pass, Haki." A voice said and out of nowhere a red-headed boy appeared, walking towards Naruto. Hinata squinted a bit. It seemed he had risen up from the _sand_.

And finally Naruto smiled. The first smile he had created that whole day.

"Gaara." Was all Naruto said as the two hugged. A manly hug, but a hug nonetheless.

Both Hinata and Haki felt a bit out of place.

"So how has life been, bro?" Gaara asked finally breaking their rather _manly _embrace.

"So and so." Naruto responded as Gaara slowly diverted his eyes from Naruto and noticed the blue-haired girl standing next to him.

"And this midnight beauty is?" Gaara muttered out the corner of his mouth. Hinata blushed at his compliment.

**A/N: For those of you who don't understand the whole "midnight beauty" phrase, Midnight beauty is traced back to a Brazilian legend of a very beautiful ghost who often wore red or white.**

"Hinata. Hinata Hyugga." He said, maintaining his smile. "Hinata, Gaara. Gaara, Hinata."

Gaara only looked at her for a moment before greeting her. "A pleasure to meet you." He said, shaking her hand.

"Likewise." Hinata softly said.

"Well, anyways, Kankuro is waiting for you." Gaara said to Naruto, letting go of Hinata's hand.

"Sweet!" Naruto said, his spirits rising with each moment. "Hey, since you're Kazekage and all, wanna be a dear saint and treat me to ramen?"

"Sure thing buddy." Gaara said as two followed Gaara.

"Awesome!" Naruto said, pumping his fist into the air.

"But no more than 3 bowls."

"Aw!" Naruto sulked. "Six tops?"

"Five."

"Deal!"

Hinata could have almost sworn she had seen a quick grin from the Kazekage.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"So what is that supposed to mean? Does Danzo have something against us or something?" A brown haired teenager asked. He had purple, rectangular-like streaks on his face, and his usual cat-like mask was lying somewhere else.

"I don't know, I'm just saying." A girl with blonde hair responded. Her hair was tied up into two spiky ponytails, had blue eyes, and she carried a fan on her back.

The two were relaxing in a small room, lying on furniture after an exhausting mission. Who would have thought guarding old farts was so tiring?

The girl's name was Temari, while the boy's was Kankuro. Both were siblings to the Kazekage, Gaara, and friends with Naruto.

Suddenly the slide door opened to reveal two, no _three_, people behind it.

"Hey, Naruto!" Kankuro exclaimed, picking himself up and bumping fists with the blond.

"Naruto." Temari simply said, only throwing him a glance before looking out the window.

"Great, what's up with her today?" Naruto said, his eyebrow twitching. He was already used to Temari's Drama queen acts.

"One of the elders she protected today said her hair looked like 'Two pineapple tops.'" Gaara said, seemingly annoyed just as much as Naruto.

"And that's what she's upset about?" Naruto asked, finding it hard to believe. Temari was a tough girl; she wasn't usually affected by insults.

"No, she's mad that I didn't let her kill him."

"Ok then…" Naruto shivered. Temari was capable of anything.

"Oooh, and this is?" Kankuro asked, looking at Hinata.

"Hinata Hyugga." Gaara said.

"Pleased to meet you, Hinata." Kankuro cheekily said, outstretching his hand.

Hinata took his hand into hers, shaking it. Meeting all these new people made her feel somewhat awkward; she wasn't exactly the social type. After everyone sat down, they all had small talk, although Hinata was not involved in said conversations, at least until Kankuro made a great proposition.

"Hey, Naruto, you wanna go relax somewhere?" Kankuro asked. "We'll grab some ramen afterwards."

The word ramen light Naruto up like a flame. "Sure, what do you have in mind?"

"They just finished building this new hot spring here. I haven't been to it, but the people that have gone to it have told me that it's incredible."

"Alright!" Naruto cheerfully exclaimed. "Gaara said he would treat me ramen so that's taken care of."

"You _do_ know how much he eats, right?" Kankuro asked the red-head.

"I said five bowls tops." Gaara responded.

"Thank goodness…" Kankuro sighed in relief. "Otherwise we would go broke."

"Jerk…" Naruto muttered under his breath, and Temari couldn't help but break a grin. They were like brothers.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"It looks really hot." Naruto said. The three boys -Gaara, Naruto, and Kankuro- were all standing with only towels covering them, standing a few feet away from the water.

"What are you talking about?" Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "We can't see anything in the first place."

He was right though. The steam that came from the water made it almost impossible to see anything.

"I call going in first!" Kankuro said, taking off his towel and setting his toes on the steaming water, sinking in it little by little.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Temari sighed, looking at the steam rising from the hot spring. They were the only girls -likewise, Kankuro, Gaara, and Naruto were the only boys at their side- in the steaming hot spring at the moment. Hinata was only silent, looking down at the milky water, cherishing the warmth after so many chilly days. For some reason she felt extremely weird with her hair wet, and she couldn't exactly discern why, although Temari's hair was the same; her ponytails no longer existed, or at least while she was inside the hot water.

"_The boys must be having more fun than this…" _Temari thought.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The three boys sighed in pleasure. Truth be told, Naruto wasn't a person who loved hot springs, but he had to admit that it felt good.

"Why don't you just ask him? Kami knows how much you want to." Gaara said to Kankuro much to Naruto's confusion.

"Ask what?" Naruto said.

"He wants to know what's up between you and midnight beauty." Gaara plainly said.

Naruto only raised an eyebrow.

"Does she even know?" Kankuro blurted out.

"Know what?"

"God you're stupid." Kankuro said, face-palming himself.

"That's not what your mom said last night." Naruto muttered.

"You little-"

"Moving on." Gaara interrupted. "You were saying, Kankuro?"

"Does she know of your, well you know, _occupation_?" Kankuro said after a while of calming himself.

"Oh, right, right." Naruto said, his brain finally connecting.

"Took you long enough…" Kankuro muttered under his breath while Gaara threw him a glare.

"Well duh she does!" Naruto said.

"Really?" Kankuro asked, surprised.

"Why wouldn't she?"

"I don't know, you don't really trust many people, spare us." Kankuro said.

"I never said I trusted her." Naruto muttered. "She just happens to know. I think you're forgetting I'm looked all throughout the Land of Fire. You don't have to be Einstein to recognize me."

"You don't trust her?" Gaara asked, much to everyone's dismay. He wasn't usually the asker. He usually would just listen in and break Naruto and Kankuro apart when they started fighting.

"Wait, then who exactly is she?" Kankuro asked. This was all very confusing.

"She's my comrade." Naruto grinned.

"Ok, but you do realize that for all you know she could stab your back?" Kankuro said.

"I am well aware of that; I am keeping my eye on her, don't worry about it."

"You should be the one who's worried. I don't see what you see in her; she looks like just another person with a normal life. Or at least used to be normal." Kankuro said.

"Or perhaps there are more personal reasons?" Gaara said.

Naruto only looked at him and then looked at an invisible speck.

"_I hit a nerve, haven't I Naruto?" _Gaara thought, but just like any other thought, his face didn't reflect it.

And just by looking at Naruto's face a bit more, he answered his own question:

"_Yes. Yes I have."_

**A/N: Phew! Sorry this took so long guys, I was focusing on other things and I wasn't really able to complete this until today. I hope you forgive me enough to send me a small review. To make up for this I'll try to put up the next chapter faster, in a few days or so. After all, I have the weekend ahead of me.**

**-Sky**


	5. Emergence

**A/N: Well as I said, here is the 5****th**** chapter faster than usual. Anywho, (Yes, I said Anywho, it was intentional) since I have a week of no school thanks to the life saver we like to call, Spring Break, chapters **_**should**_** be flying out faster. But let's quit with my rambling and get on with the story, shall we? **

**I don't own Naruto; all its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and TV Tokyo.**

Hiashi Hyugga's day was _not_ going well.

To start the day, he had been only inches away from being fired out of the committee of elders for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Not that he would have cared (he would rather be anywhere else than with those old farts) but being part of the elders let him have insight on the whole of Konoha's actions, not to mention it increased his and the Hyugga clan's reputation _tremendously_.

However his reputation had already been damaged thanks to Hinata's act two days ago. Neji had barged into her room after a while of her not answering Neji's calls to eat dinner, only to find it vacant. Hiashi had tried to keep it a secret but somehow it leaked out and people were now aware of the Hyugga's little mishap. Not only did it make Hiashi look like a horrible father, he was also forced to buy the services of different Shinobi in order to bring his daughter back. However, this was purely reputation-based. As far as he cared, he could live with Hanabi, who was stronger, faster, and didn't give up before a fight even started. Anyone could have told who Hiashi's favorite was.

Which linked with his current situation. Here he was, staring at a black haired boy in his teens. He wore a loose shirt with somewhat puffy pants and a rope around his waist that was bundled in the back with a knot. On his rear hip was a blue-hilted Katana.

"So, Sasuke Uchiha is your name, am I correct?" Hiashi said, sitting down behind his wooden desk.

"Correct." The boy said, looking indifferent.

"Alright, let's get to the point." Hiashi sighed, intertwining his fingers and laying them on the desk. "You agree to the terms, conditions, and the rest?"

"Yes." 

"Alright, then, all I can say is start as soon as you can." Hiashi said, handing him a paper that had a full description of her, from head to toes.

Sasuke nodded and took it before opening the door.

"I understand that when I say this I am throwing caution to the wind." Sasuke said, not even looking at Hiashi. "But for a father, you don't seem very worried about your own daughter."

Hiashi's eyes opened in surprise.

"Well how would you know, Mr. Uchiha?" Hiashi retorted. This kid was a bother, he could tell.

A moment of silence filled the room.

"Nothing can be hid from an Uchiha's eyes." He coldly stated, now looking back at him, his eyes red with three black markings on them.

"_The Sharingan." _Hiashi thought. _"It surprised me enough that an Uchiha besides Itachi was still alive after that fateful day. I didn't expect this boy to have the Sharingan at such a young age."_

Hiashi kept silent, just as Sasuke did and after what seemed like an eternity the Uchiha walked away, chuckling.

The terms included no harm being done to the heiress. It also included that if anyone came to intervene while the rescue took place, the rescuer had the authority to kill or wound. The reward of rescuing Hinata was none other than her hand in marriage. However, it wasn't this fact alone that had made people run towards Hiashi. No, it was the fact that Hinata was the daughter of a rich man therefore that meant that the husband received a great portion of those riches.

However, neither of those reasons pushed Sasuke to take up the rescue offer. No, it was the fact that those eyes were very powerful. Once Sasuke became pledged as the Hyugga's husband he would be able to know the Hyugga's secrets, and to him that was very important. Each weapon in his arsenal would count when he finally fought that man who had caused him so much grief and pain.

"_Itachi…" _Sasuke repeated the name in his head.

Sasuke was the only one who had passed the "test" to rescue Hiashi's daughter. The test was none other than beating the most talented Hyugga in a fight, Neji, to prove their worth.

Every single "contestant" had failed miserably in accomplishing that, and all left with bruises or a bloody body part. However, Sasuke had beaten the genius as if nothing, finishing the fight in less then 5 minutes.

"_Too bad he wasn't enough of a challenge to use __**that**__ technique." _Sasuke chuckled to himself.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Man this stuff is great!" Naruto exclaimed, loudly slurping up the broth of his third bowl.

Hinata and Temari only looked at him amazed. How was it possible that someone was _still _hungry after three bowls of ramen?

"You're a pig…" Temari muttered.

"You're a freak." Naruto retorted.

"_Wow where did that come from?"_

"Excuse me?" Temari asked, although she had heard perfectly well.

"Nothing, Nothing."

"Keep 'em coming!" Naruto declared as the old man handed him the fourth bowl.

Everyone had already finished, with Gaara eating two bowls, Kankuro eating three and both Hinata and Temari eating one.

Naruto sighed in satisfaction as he stacked the fourth bowl on top of the other three.

"And for the grand finale!" Naruto said, the fifth and final bowl being set down.

"You really are a pig…" Kankuro said.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it, Naruto?" Gaara asked.

"Hey, if you hadn't put a limit I could eat three more."

"You aren't a pig; you're much more than that." Temari said.

Naruto only stuck his tongue out at her.

"At least Hinata is a nice person." Naruto said, looking at the silent Hinata who was startled that her name had even infiltrated the conversation.

"Nice job Hinata, we were on an insulting streak!" Kankuro sulked.

"I-I'm sorry." Hinata softly apologized.

Kankuro only looked at her. "You do know I'm just messing with you, right?"

"Oh…" Hinata's face flushed red in embarrassment.

It was no longer daytime, and the full moon reflected brightly as people bustled through the streets, most of the parents with their children while the kids asked their parents for toys and the liking.

"Alright!" Naruto licked his lips, setting down the final bowl. "I'm finished!"

"Yes, we can see that captain genius." Temari said, already standing up.

Naruto stuck his tongue out once more before picking himself up along with the rest. Well, everyone but Gaara who was paying the expense of 12 ramen bowls.

"Thank you Kazekage-sama." The old man bowed a bit as Gaara nodded and departed.

It wasn't until Gaara started walking away that the old man realized the Kazekage had paid him more than he was supposed to. It was a hefty amount too.

"Eh, Kaze-" He started.

"Keep it." Gaara said before joining Naruto and the others.

"Man, I'm tired now." Naruto said, putting his arms behind his head. "I should probably get to sleep; I have to get supplies tomorrow."

"I'll lead you to the hotel. I already made a reservation for you." Gaara said.

"A reservation?" Naruto tilted his head. "That's so cool! If there is a reserving system then that means that it's probably like a five star hotel, and if it's a five star hotel that must mean that there is room service with food!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air.

"Not exactly." Kankuro said, finding the fact that the only thing that rested on his mind was food annoying. "They have food service, but in the dining room; they won't deliver to your room."

"Aw." Naruto sulked, now dragging his arms.

"Oh no, we don't want the great Naruto to go down a few stairs! What will we do?" Temari sarcastically said.

"Since we didn't expect you to have company, you and Hinata will have to sleep in the same room." Gaara said. "But don't worry, there's two beds."

"Um, can't you just tell them 'Hey, give this guy a second room.' you are Kazekage!" Naruto said.

"God you're annoying." Kankuro face-palmed himself.

"Naruto, have you ever heard of power abuse?" Gaara asked.

"What's that?"

"Forget it." Kankuro sighed.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The five walked inside the lighted hotel's lobby. There was much furniture and paintings, one of them especially captivating Naruto's attention. It showed two lions frozen in a fight, one of them having a gash on their rib and the other's eye bloody. The walls were painted white and some gray statues outlined corners of the room.

"Ah, Kazekage-sama." A man with a uniform said. "I'll lead this young man to his room." 

"The girl is with him." Gaara said and the man nodded. "And its fine, we'll walk him there."

"Yeah, he might get lost and end up in the bathroom." Temari snickered.

Gaara and the rest climbed two stories before actually making it to the right floor. They walked ahead of a few rooms before getting to Naruto and Hinata's respective one.

"Well, this is it, 3-10." Kankuro said, looking at the note in his hand.

Naruto nodded and unlocked the door with a click before opening it. As soon as the door had flung open he felt the sudden cold air from the air conditioner hitting his face like a blizzard. It felt incredible.

"Well, we'll see you tomorrow Naruto." Temari said, waving her hand and having a small smile. The three siblings were already walking away.

"Hey! That's the first time today you were nice to me!"

"I never said I _want_ to see you tomorrow." Temari snickered.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"_She is now a mega-jerk in my book." _He thought.

"Whatever, 'Pine-tops'!" Naruto retorted.

"What did you say?" Temari yelled.

"Oh crap, crap, crap!" Naruto exclaimed. "Hurry Hinata, get inside!"

Naruto almost pushed Hinata inside as he quickly did the same and slammed the door shut behind him, quickly locking it. He put his ear to the door and could hear Gaara and Kankuro trying to hold Temari back.

"Let me at him!" Temari yelled.

"Just let it go this time!" Kankuro tried to reason.

After a long while all there was only silence out in the hall, coming as a huge breather to Naruto. At least for the moment.

Naruto took his cheek off the door and turned around.

"I screwed up." Naruto said aloud, gulping. "She is going to kill me tomorrow."

Hinata only smiled, looking around the room just like Naruto.

There were two beds a few feet apart from each other, a bed-couch, a desk, a closet, and one bathroom. The whole floor of the room was carpeted, and the walls were a milky peach. A lamp rested on either side of the beds.

"It looks pretty comfortable, don't you think?" Naruto asked.

"Y-Yeah, I guess so." Hinata replied now sitting on the side of a bed.

"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Naruto said, running towards the latter bad and jumping on it.

He landed and bounced back into the air once before landing back again.

"Aw yeah." Naruto said lying on the bed.

After a while of deep relaxation, Naruto groggily got up and walked to the bathroom.

"I'm going to take a bath before going to bed." Naruto informed.

He closed the door behind him and stripped off his clothes, slowly walking inside the shower and turning on the hot water.

"I love you heat." Naruto muttered, washing his hair with some shampoo.

XxXxXxXxXxX

A young man flew over treetops and through the sky on a giant, clay-made bird. His hair was long and bundled in the back with a ponytail, while a large survivor of said ponytail hung over his left eye, hiding his Anti-Genjutsu apparatus. He wore a black coat with red cloud markings on them, and both of his hands had mouths on them.

His name was Deidara, and he was on a journey to find a certain person.

"_If I keep this rate I should be there before noon." _He thought. _"I asked Pein-sama to give me something that would be more of a challenge. The Ichibi, pshh." _

But nevertheless he put a grin on and relaxed as he enjoyed the ride that his clay bird provided.

"_Sunagakure, here I come." _

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto sighed in relief as he came out of the bathroom, wet and with a towel covering him, to which Hinata blushed furiously, mostly because of him only using a _towel_.

"Alright, your turn." Naruto said, plopping back unto the bed. He had been waiting for this _too _long. Unfortunately he was forced to wait a bit longer.

Hinata nodded and walked towards the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

"Alright then, where are those pajamas Gaara said he had sent me?" Naruto muttered, standing up and looking for it.

He switched the room upside down looking for the pajamas, and he finally found them after what seemed like and eternity. It was an orange bag with swirly signs on them. Naruto only blinked and took the clothes outside of the bag before groaning.

There before him was a full set of pajamas, but not the kind that he had expected. Nope, not at all. The set was composed of a T-Shirt and some loose comfortable pants, accompanied by a nigh-cap that featured a hippo with two teeth. But the designs on the T-shirt were, well, not so _manly_. It featured a bunch of cute, little foxes etched on the T-shirt and pants.

It was certainly Gaara's doing.

But he put them on anyways, sighing as he did so. Although he couldn't complain about the hat; for some reason he had a sort of liking to it. Suddenly someone knocked on the room's door, and Naruto swiftly go to it, looking through the peep-hole to make sure it wasn't Temari.

But thanks to Kami, it wasn't. In fact it was the man in the uniform they had met in the lobby. In his hands he held some neatly folded clothes.

Naruto sighed, prepared for humiliation, and opened the door.

"These clothes are for the lady." The man said before looking at Naruto. His cheeks puffed in suppressed laughter. "Um, t-there from K-Kazekage-sama." He said before handing him the clothes and walking away.

Naruto peeked his head out and looked at the man walking away, whose shoulders were trembling in laughter. Naruto's eyebrows only furrowed.

He sighed and walked back inside, locking the door once more and putting Hinata's pajamas on the floor right in front of the bathroom door.

"Hey, Hinata, you're pajamas are right in front of the door." Naruto said, his eyes heavy.

"O-Ok!"

Naruto groaned once more before groggily walking towards the bed and throwing himself on it. He wanted nothing more than falling asleep. After a while he heard the clicking of the door as it opened with a pajama-clothed Hinata. Her pajamas on the other hand, featured bunnies and no night-cap. Hinata only looked at Naruto for a few seconds to which Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Don't say a word." Naruto said before pulling the covers over him.

Hinata walked towards her bed and did the same, her shoulders trembling and her hand covering her mouth as she suppressed laughter. Who would have thought that the most wanted thief in all the land of fire was using _fox _pajamas? That sheer question made Hinata squeak. She couldn't hold it much longer.

"Hey are you alright?" Naruto asked, turning his lamp back on. "You don't sound very well."

"I-I'm fine." Hinata managed to say. But alas, it was a futile attempt as she burst into a fit of laughter.

Naruto only banged his head into the soft bed, cursing himself over and over again.

"I am so getting you back tomorrow Gaara…" Naruto muttered before turning off his lamp once more.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Sasuke Uchiha walked inside a tall, old, cracked building. Its pillars were gray and had cracks, and it had a bell at the very top, although no one had used it for years. The floors were purple and rock lied around. The whole building was hollow.

"Welcome." A tall man said. His beard was long, pointy and he was almost bald. By the sight you could tell he was old. "How may we help you?"

"We?" Sasuke replied.

"Ah yes, the guardians and I." He gestured. "We protect the sacred temple of the god of wind."

"_Sacred temple huh? Seems like an old rack house to me." _Sasuke thought looking around.

"Right." He finally said. "Have you seen this girl pass by?" He held up a picture of Hinata.

"No, I am afraid not." The old man said, rubbing his beard

"Alright, that is all." Sasuke said, starting to walk away. He was a bit disappointed that the old fart didn't know a thing.

"Wait, would you like to stay for the night?" The old man asked. "Our beds are very comfortable."

"No thank you, I have no intention of spending any more time here; I have things to do." Sasuke replied.

"Oh…" The old man said. "Oh my…It seems we will have to take you in by force then."

And out of what seemed nowhere, armored men peeked out, each carrying a katana.

"These men are _very _experienced in wind type chakra. If you resist they will kill you." The old man smiled, retreating a bit. "However, give yourself in, and we'll hold you for a ransom to Hiashi Hyugga. He should provide us a hefty amount for your life."

"So that was your measly plan all along?" Sasuke found it hard to believe. They were taking him way too lightly! "Capture me and hold me ransom to Hiashi?" 

"Well, we'll see if you still talk big after you're tied up with a sword to your neck. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to speak with strangers?" The old man snickered. "Get him!"

The armed men roared as they charged at Sasuke, while he only stood his ground. He had already taken out his own katana, and had already infused Chidori to it, making the blade scream and show blue light. One man came at him and slashed vertically, to which Sasuke only moved out of the way and stabbed his back, quickly taking his blade out as fast as it had gone in. The man groaned in pain and fell while the other came at him, to which Sasuke only dodged and countered.

It came to the point where Sasuke was surrounded by the men. They all yelled as they charged at him, while Sasuke only ducked, moved, and jumped to avoid their blades. He slashed and stabbed through metal and flesh, some blood staining his face and arms. He didn't even have to use his Sharingan.

The last one hesitated and stood his ground, seeing that all his partners were now lying on the floor, dead.

"What, are you scared?" Sasuke chuckled.

Meanwhile, seeing that all his men had been killed, the old man had made a run for it, but somehow Sasuke noticed.

"Run as much as you want, I will still find you!" Sasuke yelled before focusing his attention on the young warrior once more. "If you run away I won't kill you." He told the armed man.

He only nodded, trembling. He sheathed his katana and ran towards the door. He ran and ran until he was only a few feet away from the handle, but just before he could reach for it Sasuke appeared in front of him.

"I can't believe you _actually _tried to run away." Sasuke said. "You aren't worthy of that sword you are carrying. People who run away from the heat of battle are scum and don't deserve to live."

He growled as he slashed through the man's flesh, kicking him away.

The old man only stood frozen in the shadows, hoping he wouldn't be found. But alas, it was too late. Sasuke was already walking towards him, blade in hand.

"D-Don't kill me!" He pleaded.

"Hey, you tried to kill me, am I right?" Sasuke retorted. "An eye for an eye…"

The old man quivered in fear.

"Now, now, tell me, have you or have you not seen this girl pass by?" Sasuke held his blade up to the old man's neck.

"I swear, I don't know a thing about her, I'm not involved in whatever-"

"Oh well." Sasuke said before running his blade across the neck. His body fell limp and slumped to the ground.

Sasuke walked away from the grueling and bloody scene, taking a rag and wiping off the blood from his blade.

**A/N: Sky here! Well, as we have all seen, two antagonists have appeared in this chapter, so you can bet the rest of the story will have a plot rather than just letting Naruto be a roaming nomad. Anyways, I just wanted to include a little fight in this chapter since some people noted (Through reviews) out how last chapter was a bit dull. Talking about reviews, I will be reading some questions and/or reviews that people have asked. **

**Here's from Lovestroyman140- "If he's the biggest thief y does he wear kill me orange still?" **

**Well, I didn't really think that the clothes factor would be big to his popularity. I mean, everyone knows about him, it's not like it's going to be reversed if he suddenly wears blue or something. Also, I kind of changed his personality a tad-bit to accommodate this story, so I really didn't want to change anything else. **

**From Deadlysmile- "This is a really great story. Hurry up and write more." **

**Will do, good sir!**

**From Christopher Scott- "Interesting story. I like it and I'm curious as to what's to follow. Please update at your convenience. Truly, Christopher Scott: A gentleman thief.**

**Mr. Scott, first of all I would like to say I LOVE your signature. I really do. And no, I will not update at MY convenience, I will update at the convenience of the readers, because you guys are so awesome. Thank you so much for your review Mr. Scott.**

**From Uzumaki Ricky- "HMM…I GUESS IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR NOW. BY THE WAY… I LIKED THE INTERACTION BETWEEN NARUTO AND THE KYUUBI (FYI, THAT'S ACTUALLY THE WAY IT'S SPELLED) AT THE BEGINNING."**

**Why thank you! And yes, I didn't remember how Kyuubi was spelled, so thank you so, so much, I'm sorry to whomever might have noticed that mistake.**

**From Oceanmoon- "When I read this chapter, I felt as though you had developed your characters vey well. I look forward to your next chapter, this is very exciting!" **

**Thank you friendo! It means a lot to me!**

**From XxookamassxXx- "I LOVE IT!"**

**Thank you! **

**Alright, so that's it for today and thank you to everyone who's reviewed; you're automatically on my "awesome" list. Nah you're on my "Awesomely awesome, incredibly awesome" list. Yeah, that's more like it. **

**Oh, I almost forgot, I'm doing this new thing that I call "The Fanfiction poll" I have been thinking about it, and decided, well, why not let the readers have a say? So, what's going to happen is you can tell me what you should think should happen in the story. You can send it via message or review, it doesn't matter. Tell me how you think the characters develop, how the plot will go, things like that. Also, please take note that I won't be using EVERY single "Fanfiction poll" suggestion. I am going to use the ones I think that would have a good impact on the story and would fit in well, so it's advised you include plot details. **

**Thank you so much, and hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner than you can say, **

"**Super-calli-fraga-listic-espi-yala-docious"**

**P.S. As some of you might know, there is this glitch roaming the Naruhina stories, preventing us from uploading or editing our stories. I was not able to upload this chapter because of that, so, in hopes that someone would know the solution, I sent a Private Message to some of the reviewers. And thanks to Solvdrage I found the solution, and it's quite simple: **

**When the error page comes up, go to the URL, look for the word property. Right, now, erase the word "property" and put "content" in its place. Then press enter. And that's it! So a big thanks to Solvdrage! **

**-Sky**


	6. Uninvited arrival

**A/N: Whoa… Alright, yes, I won't go into detail but I had writer's block. I won't ramble why I haven't updated, but I will ask that you forgive me for not updating in more than a month. I wouldn't be surprised if my reading/review count has gone down noticeably because of my vacancy. But without further ado of my rambling, here's the month-waited chapter 6.**

A big yawn echoed through the room as Naruto Uzumaki opened his mouth for the first time that day. He stretched and fought the covers, maintaining the yawn as he did. He tried to get up but the ultimate result was the same; falling back down unto the bed. Naruto sighed, realizing that he didn't have much choice. He was running quite low on supplies, and he needed to start searching for said items. An early start to the day was much needed if Naruto was going to find the cheapest deals.

He rubbed his eyes open and looked around. Just as he had thought, Hinata was still sleeping soundly. Her form of sleeping was much neater, whereas Naruto's consisted of thrashing around the bed, kicking the covers like a kicking bag, and half his body lingering off the bed, Hinata's way of sleeping was much more tranquil. Her sheets were wrinkleless and still covering her completely, she was calmly sleeping on her side, and her whole body was on the bed. You could easily tell the contrast.

Naruto quickly made up his mind and took off his pajamas, putting on his much-missed orange and black jumpsuit. He swiftly opened the door and closed it just as fast, making sure to make no noise. There was no reason to wake Hinata up just for supply-shopping. Plus, she needed the rest, as Naruto could easily tell thanks to small purple bags under her eyes.

However, as many people have said, never travel on an empty stomach. Naruto wasn't planning to. He quickly ran down the stairs, ran towards the lobby, headed towards the cafeteria and then looked at the magnificent sight in front of him. Different varieties of food were outspread everywhere, making Naruto drool. It was like a culinary dream come true. Naruto's eyes twinkled in threat of joyous tears being released. He even went as far as forgiving Gaara for the whole pajama incident if this was the kind of treatment he'd be getting.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Well it took long enough!" Deidara muttered as his feet touched solid ground. "That flight was almost as boring as being paired with Itachi."

The sun had separated itself from the horizon but was still pretty low. The less sun, the smoother things would go for Deidara. His duty was initially going to be executed in the dark of the night, but after a few inconveniences (the likes of which included having to withstand nature's utmost attacks) he had been left with no choice but to loosen the pedal a bit.

Deidara left his clay bird hidden in a group of bushes, not absorbing the clay back into hands as usual. If things were to get too messy for Deidara a hefty escape might loom necessary.

"_Alright, transformation time." _He thought, doing the hand seal for the transformation technique. He wanted to pass through the gate as smoothly as possible.

He assumed the form of an old man, whose clothes were made of tattered rags. He had a straw hat on that protected Deidara from the sun.

He approached the gates of the Sand Village, making sure to analyze everything around him. It wasn't long before he noticed the guard in front of the gates. He slowed down his pace to fit more of that of a senior man. After what seemed like an eternity of walking, Deidara finally made it.

"State your business here." Haki said in a monotone way.

"I'm here to find some cheap food for my family." Deidara said in a crinkled voice, trying to give the impression of an old man who had experienced many hardships.

"Would you please show some kind of identification or document showing your citizenship?" Haki said, his expression indifferent.

"Oh, I don't own such a thing… I've been allowed to pass here before without-"

"I'm sorry sir, but without any kind of document showing who exactly you are I am afraid I cannot let you pass." Haki stated coldly.

Annoyed and anxious, Deidara left himself with no choice.

"Oh, you want to know who I am, do you?" Deidara chuckled as he slowly let some liquid clay ooze out of his hand's mouth.

Haki immediately noticed the white liquid sliming itself through the floor. An expression of surprise and confusion lit his face before the clay manifested itself on his feet and automatically hardened. He wasn't even able to react. Seeing as he could no longer move, there was no other choice but to yell out; as strong as he was, Haki analyzed the situation and knew that he wouldn't stand a chance without any mobility.

But even that plan was thwarted as somebody came up behind him and covered his mouth. What was to become a yell was now muffled between Deidara's hands.

"_But, he was just there!" _But his thought was not completed as he was the old man in front of him melt and become a puddle of clay on the floor. _"A clone?" _

"Sucks to be you right now, doesn't it?" Deidara chuckled, now in his normal body.

Haki struggled to take Deidara off him by twisting in all directions. Deidara quickly took out a kunai and stabbed Haki in the ribs, instantly stopping his resistance. Blood dripped on the floor as Deidara took out the kunai. It was only a matter of time before Haki's vision became foggy and the loss of blood became too much for him.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata slowly opened her eyes as sun shone through the room's window. She rubbed her eyes and slowly propped herself up, finding the lack of Naruto's snoring quite weird. Looking around she noticed that he was nowhere in the room. His sheets were messy almost on the floor, and his sleeping hat was on the desk next to his bed.

She quickly got up and looked around the room. It was certain; He was nowhere in sight. But she did find a yellow note stuck on the door that read:

_Went out for stuff. Do what you like, just meet back here at 3:00. Breakfast's at the lobby._

Hinata gulped a little bit. She didn't want to get lost in Sunagakure, and without Naruto's guidance around the village, such an outcome seemed likely. But looking at the bright side of things, she would be able to experience new environments, the likes of which she had never even dreamed of. It was like a new world for her.

She quickly got herself dressed, took a bath, did her hair, and just like that and a skip of her foot she exited the room, eager to see what awaited her.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto walked happily through the street of Sunagakure. It was quite the day; He'd eaten incredibly well, had gotten some great deals, and was now off for some training. He needed to hone his newest technique.

But even in the midst of what seemed like a perfect day, he couldn't help but feel that something was off. Perhaps that paranoia came from the fact that his life was one escape after the other, but this time it was different, at least for him. But not wanting to ruin his day, he quickly pushed that feeling aside.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Deidara walked past the gate of Sunagakure, having just hidden the body in some bushes, making sure to hide all traces of blood. He now walked through the streets filled with markets and people, the likes of which were staring at him; it wasn't usual to see someone wear a robe on such a hot day.

"_It's time for the show to start. First thing's first; Draw the Kazekage out." _Deidara thought, looking around him.

He quickly ran towards a market's wall and used his chakra to walk up it until he got to the roof. Many people whispered amongst themselves and pointed at Deidara while looking at him. He stood on top of the roof and looked down. The market wasn't high, but wasn't low either. It'd be just perfect.

"_Some C1 should do it." _He thought as his hand's mouths automatically dripped clay unto the roof in response to his thought.

"Hey you, weirdo, get down from my store!" A chubby man yelled up at Deidara, presumably the market's owner.

Deidara only threw him a death glare before focusing on the matters at hand.

He cupped his hands and looked at his marvelous art. Little white spiders creeped and crawled on top of each other as he just smiled and filled himself with pride. He looked back at the people and saw that now there were more looking and pointing at him. He only smirked.

"Prepare and behold! For you shall now see true art!" He yelled.

**A/N: Sky here! In order to somewhat make up for a month's wait I'll be releasing 2 chapters this week, so expect chapter 7 in a few days.**

**Also, the only one who did the "Fanfiction Poll" thing was Solvdrage (who, by the way, had a great idea). Please suggest what should happen in the story; it gives me ideas to further expand what I'm going to do as well as bring new elements to the story.**

**Alright, now let's start with the reviews! **

**From Dagiis:**

"Yay! I really like this story, the plot is good! ^^

I just have the urge to correct two small mistakes:

First, Hyuuga/Hyuga isn't spelled with two "g", it's two "u" or just one, it doesn't really matter ;P

Second, Temari has FOUR ponytail, not two, teheh XD

And last, is it going to be any side pairing/s?

Keep this up! :)"

**Thank you a lot, that clears up the Hyuuga thing for me. I had the same problem with Kyuubi. **

**My bad, I forgot Temari had four and not two. Embarrassment has been achieved…**

**As for the side pairings, I'm not really sure yet. I'm still thinking about that one.**

**Avelona-and-Sally says:**

"COOL! I especially like the way that these two are already starting to bond, and how it's comfortable and not forced - as in, author-trying-to-move-plot-along-without-any-consideration-for-characters doesn't exist here. That's what's so great right now.

One thing I'm curious about is why Naruto said something along the lines of "it's about time" when she woke up if he wanted her to get sleep anyway. Those two things don't really correspond."

**Thank you! Yeah, that was actually my point. I've read many fanfics that focus so much on plot, that character development isn't really considered.**

**Yeah, his point was for her to sleep, but not to sleep like a bear. Think of it this way: A mother wants her child to get good sleep before a school night. But what a mother does not want is for her child to take 10 minutes to wake up. See the difference? **

**Leaf Ranger reviews:**

"Aww, I didn't get mentioned.

Kidding. X3

Wow. naruto seemed a little childish in this chapter, compared to the previous ones. Guess he can be, since he's in a 'safety' zone for him. But Sasuke and Deidara aren't going to make it safe for much longer.

Great chapter."

**Don't fret friendo; I got you covered! **

**Yeah, well, I decided to incorporate his childish nature into the chapter in order to give the impression that he felt safe in Sunagakure.**

**Narutoninetalefox:**

"Wait a minute I'm a bit confused here did Hiashi promised Sasuke that if he brings Hinata back he would let him marry her?"

**You got it!**

**That's all for now! Expect a new chapter soon!**


	7. Another Uninvited Invitee

**A/N: Chapter 7 is here! After… another month…**

"_**BOOM!**__**"**_

Naruto quickly turned and looked behind him. He had heard an all-too-familiar sound; the sound of an explosion.

And sure enough, he was right. It didn't take very long before he saw smoke billowing up from behind some buildings, and by the look of it, the explosion hadn't happened too far away from Naruto. Most people just stood and looked at the pillar of smoke rising, and they, like Naruto, thought the explosion to be merely some children messing around.

"_Probably some kids pulling pranks again." _Naruto thought, chuckling a bit.

But he was far from right, as multiple explosions sounded right after the other. Some people gasped and others took their children, running off. Yells of panic tore through the air as the explosions continued.

"_What's going on?" _He thought.

Naruto once again had that paranoid feeling. And he didn't like it.

He made up his mind and ran towards the smoke, hating that feeling he had more and more.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata stared at the pillar of smoke that rose towards the sky. She had been walking through the streets of Sunagakure, looking casually at the things sold, but had been distracted by a booming sound. It certainly wasn't a fire, because although there was smoke, she had felt the ground shake a bit, as if something had exploded. Many other people around her stared at the smoke too, wondering what had happened. Fortunately, and unlike the rest of the people standing around her, she had a certain ocular tool that cool see farther than the naked eye.

"_Byakugan!" _

She gingerly activated her bloodline-limit, curious as to what was happening. But unfortunately, her Byakugan was not trained enough to see such far distances.

"_I-I guess I'll have to t-take a closer look…"_

XxXxXxXxXxX

Deidara looked around at the mayhem he had caused. Sure, he wasn't proud at the lives he had destroyed, but surely admiring his art was no biggy?

People scurried off to find shelter. Coughs filled the air as the smoke intoxicated them.

Now, all Deidara had to do was wait for the Kazekage to find out what was happening, which he found terribly boring.

Sensing someone approaching, Deidara looked over his shoulder. A blond figure was running towards him, jumping over roof-tops. For some reason he looked familiar…

"_Oh great, what now?" _Deidara sighed, a bit annoyed.

The blond boy coughed as he looked around, not taking very long to notice Deidara.

"Hey!" The frisky teenager yelled. "Do you know what happened here?"

Deidara only chuckled.

"Maybe, maybe not." He smiled devilishly. "What's your name boy?"

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto stated.

The last-name "Uzumaki" struck Deidara. He knew he had heard it somewhere!

"_Uzumaki, Uzumaki, Uzumaki…" _He repeated in his mind, trying to remember.

And that's when it hit him.

"_He's that thief kid!"_ Deidara fixated his view on Naruto.

"You know Uzumaki, you've been giving the Akatsuki quite some trouble." He said.

"The who?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"You don't even know who's hunting you." Deidara chuckled. "I'll explain; The Akatsuki is the biggest, most complex group of crime in the whole world. With that said, any other crime group that even dares to rival us is exterminated. However, one individual has been able to escape us time after time. You are that individual."

"But what do I have to do with anything?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Currently, nothing. But it is quite possible that you will be able to overpass us if you keep your current rate of improvement." Deidara responded. "Not to mention, the people fear you almost as much as they fear us."

"Sore losers…" Naruto muttered.

"I must have a pretty high level of luck; I'll be able to kill two birds in one stone. You're first blondie, then goes the red-head." Deidara smiled.

"_Gaara?"_

"What do you have to do with Gaara?" Naruto yelled. He was starting to despise this guy more and more by the second.

"That's for me to know, and for you to never find out."

"Tell me!" Naruto snarled.

"You aren't in a position to demand things kid." Deidara jumped from the roof unto the ground. "Your last words?"

XxXxXxXxXxX

Sasuke calmly walked on a road, looking around at his surroundings. A snake came out of his sleeve before slithering on the ground, looking for any sign of the Hyugga heiress' chakra.

The snake hissed to Sasuke, telling him his answer.

"_She has been here."_ He thought, before walking along the trail.

Time was of the essence.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"_This guy is starting to seriously piss me off." _Naruto thought. _"He's under-estimating me beyond belief! Arrogant idiot." _

Naruto balled his hands into fists in anger. Deidara wasn't slow to catch that.

"If you'd like, I'll let you strike first." Deidara smirked.

"You have already sentenced your own life." Naruto smiled.

Naruto quickly did the appropriate hand sign for Shunshin no Jutsu and in a blurred flash he appeared before Deidara. His hand naturally went to the back of his hip; a familiar sound rung through the air as he unsheathed his blade, and just as fast and natural as all his other movements he impaled the blade into Deidara's heart, the likes of who hadn't even had the chance to move or defend himself.

But something didn't seem right to Naruto. And it didn't take long for him to catch drift; Deidara wasn't spewing blood.

"You look surprised." Said a voice from behind Naruto.

Naruto looked behind him, just to see that Deidara was safe and sound, sitting on a roof that was a few meters away from him.

Suddenly, the figure he had stabbed melted into a little puddle of white liquid. Naruto bent down and touched it, immediately recognizing the material; clay.

"_This guy's weird…" _Naruto grit his teeth. _"No matter, I'll make short work of him." _

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, three copies of Naruto appeared.

"_He already knows the Shadow Clone technique? Maybe he's more talented than what I thought…" _Deidara scratched his chin.

"Let's go!" Naruto's shadow clones ran at Deidara, while the real Naruto stayed behind.

"There is no point in wasting my time on these carbon copies." Deidara said. "If I can just get the real one!"

He jumped from the roof and ran towards the real Naruto, avoiding attacks from Naruto's clones. He quickly took out a kunai, and in a flurry of movements, he slashed the blade across Naruto's neck. A string of blood flew in the air for a second before following the laws of gravity and splashing on the floor.

Naruto fell on his knees before the rest of his body plopped on the floor, lifeless.

"Hmph, maybe you weren't so talented." Deidara said in a low voice. "What a disappointment…"

**A/N: Sky here! Alright guys, please, please forgive me. There's just been a lot of things going on in my life (Not to mention that this stupid computer's recharger friend) and well, my fanfics have kind of come last. BUT, this school year is over, so I'll have ****much more free time.**** Therefore weekly (Maybe even sooner) updates will be more imminent. Now, for the reviews!**

**From my good friendo, Solvdrage:**

"Great chapter! Good to see this story back. Don't worry about the gap, a month isn't that big of a break. We all understand that the real world has the annoying tendency to get in the way.

Overall, looking forward to the next chapter."

**I don't know, to me a month seems pretty big. But that's just me. **

**XxookamassxX says:**

Its okay.. i can wait :D

"sucks to be you"lolz i say that all the time

**Same here!**

**Savage Immortal reviews:**

"gettin better with every chapter"

**Thank you! That's the effect I'm trying to give!**

**Mr. Christopher Scott says:**

"Great chapter. I like how both Naruto and Hinata react to Suna. What's about to happen with Deidara? Don't answer that, I want to be surprised. Please update whenever you find most , Christopher Scott: A Gentleman Thief"

**I didn't actually think you'd want to know yet Mr. Scott ;) Thank you for your review!**

**That's all for the reviews for this chapter! And remember, **_**Reviews=Faster Updates**_**.**

**-Sky**


	8. Bombs, Debris, and a Destruction Spree

"Gaara-senpai!" A girl with short brown hair barged into the Kazekage's room.

"Matsuri, how many times have I asked you not to enter in here like that?" The young Kazekage said calmly while he stared out his window. "There's no reason as to why you cannot knock." 

"I know senpai, I know, but this is really, really important!" Matsuri stressed.

"What is it?" 

"There was, like, an explosion, and then like, people were all running, and then-!" She yelled.

"Calm down." Gaara sighed and looked at his pupil. She was a great person, but she really did have a knack of being quite impatient and over-reactive. "Explain to me what's going o."

"We can explain." Two members of the Sand Village's ANBU –One a woman with long, dark hair and a hare mask, and a man, with long, brown hair tied into a small pony-tail at the back and a lion mask over his face- waltzed in without even making the slightest noise.

"Right. Matsuri, please wait outside." Gaara instructed. As impatient as Matsuri may have been, she knew how to take orders and never questioned Gaara. After all, she admired him more than any other person in the world; in her eyes, Gaara was the definition of perfect.

"An explosion has occurred up at the market. As of now, we are not sure who or what caused this explosion." The man explained.

"But that isn't all." The woman continued. "We also found Haki dead in some bushes."

At the latter statement, Gaara's eyes widened.

"We believe that his murder could be linked to the explosion." The man finished.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Matsuri stood outside the Kazekage's room, looking at the sky through a window. Caught in deep thought, she wondered how the Kazekage would take the news.

Suddenly, the door opened. Gaara walked out with the two ANBU members, a grim expression on his face. It only took his expression for Matsuri to know that she wasn't going to be able to go with her senpai. Not this time.

"Tell Kankuro and Temari to meet up with me. Inform them of the situation." The young Kazekage said to the two ANBU members walking beside him. "After that, evacuate the people out of the area."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto hid behind a crater filled with vegetables as he saw Deidara take down his clone.

"_He's stronger than I had thought." _Naruto curled his fists. _"And it doesn't seem like these are his full abilities. He's hiding something." _

It didn't take very long for Deidara to figure out that he had simply taken down a clone, as it soon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Come out, you coward!" He yelled out.

Naruto came out of hiding, throwing three kunais while he did so, but Deidara swiftly dodged them with no problem.

Naruto ran at Deidara once more sending a barrage of kicks and punches. Deidara's face puckered as he attempted to block them all, but the kicks and punches were too fast. Deidara landed in the dirt as Naruto's right leg connected with his head.

"_I've got to get some distance between us." _Deidara thought, spitting at the ground.

Deidara jumped back a few meters, measuring his distance between Naruto carefully. He put his hand behind his back, letting his hand eat some clay.

"Now, you shall see and feel true art! Behold, C1!" Deidara yelled.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata jumped from roof to roof, clearing distance between her and whatever was going on. She activated her Byakugan once more and tried to see what was happening, but even then her Byakugan proved inefficient enough. All she was able to see were two blurry figures. Although one of them did have a familiar chakra flow from what she could see…

She once again kept on the move, keen on seeing what was going on.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Deidara threw countless bug-like clay creations into the air.

"_What in Kami's name is that?" _Naruto looked at the tiny creations, trying to discern what exactly they were; never in his life had he seen something like that.

"_Wait for it… Wait for it… Now!" _Deidara lifted his hand.

"Katsu!"

The bugs ripped through the air, exploding. Naruto's eyes widened as he tried to dodge them all.

"_W-What exactly is this release?" _Naruto thought. Clay creations fused with explosions? Never would he have imagined seeing such a mixture.

Deidara smiled as he took out 3 shuriken; the clay bombs were never intended to actually maim Naruto. They were simply a diversion.

He threw each shuriken one by one, but Naruto's ears were sharp; he had already heard the familiar whirring sound. He quickly took out his ninjato, swiftly parrying the shurikens one by one. He ran towards Deidara while blocking more of the shuriken being thrown by him.

Deidara didn't move an inch while Naruto charged at him until he was only a meter away from him.

"Katsu!" Deidara smiled.

"_It can't be, all of his bombs exploded!" _Naruto thought. _"Unless if…Crap!" _

He quickly halted, putting his arms in front of him.

"Too late boy!" Deidara finished as he himself exploded.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Gaara was running through the streets towards the pillar of smoke when he heard another explosion set itself loose.

"Two explosions in the same place… Just what exactly is going on?" Gaara calmly whispered.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Is it really over?" Deidara leaned on his arm, sitting on the top of a house. "How boring…"

Suddenly a blond figure jumped out of the smoke and landed on the ground. Deidara only smiled.

"_D-Damn…" _Naruto thought, kneeling on the ground while he held his arm that tingled. He had saved himself at the last second by quickly using the Shunshin no Jutsu, but his left arm had received some of the blow. Luckily, he was still in one piece. _"I've got to concentrate." _

"You're not too bad at running away." Deidara chuckled, jumping down from his resting place. "But there's no fun in playing cat and mouse." 

Naruto let out a low growl, trying to keep his calm.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yelled.

In swift puffs of smoke dozens of clones appeared surrounding Deidara.

"Deal with this!" The clones yelled, all of them charging at the terrorist bomber.

"Quantity doesn't substitute quality, boy!" Deidara said, taking on the clones.

Each clone came rushing only to be dissipated by a flurry of attacks from Deidara. He sent upper-cuts, jabs, and all kinds of kicks. He quickly made some C1 bombs and threw them into the incoming clones.

"Katsu!" Dozens of clones disappeared in a puffs of smoke.

Deidara swiftly kicked a clone in the head before doing a backflip, landing behind a clone. He grabbed hold of him and turned him around, using him as a shield against another clone's attack as the rest of Naruto's clone quickly piled on Deidara

Then, out of nowhere, a huge clay white bird appeared, diving into the battle-zone and picking up his creator out of the mass. Deidara held on to a wing before climbing properly on the bird.

"Right on time…" He panted, wiping some blood from his mouth. "It's time for something bigger."

His hands chewed up some clay, quickly making two huge, circle-like bombs that were as big as a basketball. He lifted them on his shoulder before dropping them.

The two explosives plummeted through the air aimed towards the very heart of the large crowd of clones.

"Katsu!" He yelled, doing his familiar hand seal.

Deidara's timing couldn't have been more perfect. The bombs let loose, causing a colossal explosion. Three quarters of the clones were caught in the explosion as it grew and grew. The shockwave made even Deidara's footing stumble. Smoke raised itself again, this time in much greater amounts.

"_Did that get him?" _He asked himself. _"Or was he able to squeeze his way through this one also?" _

Deidara looked at the smoke intently. If the young Uzumaki was still alive then the smoke would be to his favor while it still blocked any view.

"Uzumaki, don't think you can hide forever! You may think you have the scene advantage, but let me let you in on a little secret." He yelled.

The real Naruto hid behind a 3 meter high pile of debris from a house that had been caught in the explosion. He was still in one piece but his injured arm dripped blood. He quickly summoned some wrapping bandages out of a summoning scroll of his.

"As of now, there's countless bombs planted underground." He continued. "In other words, if I really wanted to, I could blow you to hell and back."

Naruto gritted his teeth.

"That's right Uzumaki. You're playing on _**my**_ turf." He finished, smiling.

**A/N: That's chapter 8 guys! Hope you guys enjoyed it; now, for the reviews:**

**Angelito Soldado says:**

"Awesome story!

It's taken me a week to read all of your chapters but not because I'm a slow reader, life's just that troublesome...

Love how the story's going on so far and I see you're somewhat following some of the arcs that Kishi did...

I'm glad Sasuke's at least a decent villain... Not some hack-villain who's just crazy...

Can't wait to see how Deidara is taken care of and how Naruto or Gaara or even Hinata finishes him off...

Good luck with whatever!"

**Hello, new friendo! About the arc's, I didn't actually think of it that way, but now that you mention it you're right. Go unoriginality! xD**

**From another good friendo, Oceanmoon:**

"I am really enjoying this story!"

**Then I'm glad I can say "Mission Accomplished" so far! **

**Another new reviewer, Rosie Thornet reviews:**

"Call me crazy but I want it to be slightly Sasuhina, because I want to see some rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke. That'd be awesome. My logic is that Sasuke will take her away, and he'll fall hard for her, but remember this is Naruhina so Naruto will get her back. After a long and grueling fight. (:"

**Talk about creative! See people, these are the kinds of reviews that fill my incomprehensible mind with ideas! Thanks for the review Ms. Thornet! **

**Chewie Cookies says:**

"Damn, VERY evil cliffhanger!

Keep up the good work!"

**Let's be honest C.C. (Can I call you that?); every author has to have an evil cliffhanger at some point. :D Thank you for your review!**

**From In Your Dreams as Well:**

"Awesome story! :)"

**Thank you good sir/m'aam! **

**That's everything for this chapter. Please give me your feedback on how this chapter was, how I should improve, and if you have an idea for this story then feel free to share it. Thanks guys!**

**-Sky**


	9. A Last Resort

**A/N: I eternally beg you all to forgive me for not submitting a chapter in so long. I'm so, so sorry, and I really don't have an excuse. But if you forgive me, I'll give you a cyber cookie. :) **

**Anyways, there's been a lot of changes in my life since I last updated. Some good, some bad, but I'm not here to write my autobiography. I've become a bit of a better writer thanks to school (never thought I'd say that), mostly because of what feels to me like thousands of research reports I've been having to do, so HOPEFULLY, and with any luck, this chapter might seem different (in a good way) to the other ones, writing style-wise. But anyhow, without further ado, I present to you chapter 9!**

"Damn it to hell…" Naruto muttered. There was no chance at this rate. And if that wasn't bad enough, he didn't see the possibility of bleeding to death too far away.

"_Too late for remorse now. If I'm going out, I'm going out in a bang."_ Naruto thought, then inwardly chuckled at the situation-referencing pun.

Naruto silently analyzed his situation. Not far from death, one arm virtually useless, standing over underground explosives that would make even his ancestors feel the pain, a low chakra level, and dangerously low on his stock of weapons. And perhaps the most important to him, he was hungry as hell. If he died, the first thing he'd be asking God in heaven would be a really nice bowl of ramen.

Yeah, it definitely wasn't one of his best days.

Naruto took out another kunai, this one with an explosive tag on it and set his eyes on Deidara's silhouette.

"_Now or never." _He thought before throwing it.

It flew ever so elegantly before bursting out of the smoke barrier, blade-first towards Deidara. Using this distraction time, Naruto jumped on top of the tallest roof he could see, which wasn't the easiest act considering all he really saw was smoke and figures. The first thing was to get away from those mines. Even if Deidara was bluffing, he wasn't taking his chances.

Then an idea struck him.

"_No, I can't. I haven't even mastered it, and who knows if I even have the necessary chakra for it." _Naruto thought. But this wasn't a time to take precautions. If he didn't even try, what would be the chances that he'd survive this anyways?

Weighing his options, Naruto finally came to a decision. He did the cross-like hand sign for the Shadow Clone technique. Immediately three clones appeared in front of him. Two of them went on ahead, jumping on and off roof-tops on their way to where Deidara was, while one stayed behind with Naruto.

"Let's do this." He muttered, putting his hand out to one side. The clone immediately starting doing erratic and circular hand motions around Naruto's hand. A small chakra ball appeared inside of Naruto's hand, and he couldn't help but smile.

"_This guy's going down, and he's going down hard." _Naruto thought.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Gaara gained footing over another roof as he skipped through the town. He was getting far closer, so close to the point where he could see a silhouette of a figure up in the sky, although he couldn't tell what or who it was. He picked up his pace, already ready for whatever lied up ahead.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The two other clones that departed from the original Naruto rushed towards Deidara. After realizing they were directly below him, they both added chakra to the soles of their feet, jumping higher than any other regular human could. They popped out of the smoke, kunai in their hands and aiming for Deidara's bird. The clones sunk their kunai into the bird, using the kunai as a way to climb up unto where Deidara was. They stepped on the uneven footing of the bird, slightly stumbling, before looking straight at Deidara, who was only looking back at them.

"Haven't you ever heard of quality over quantity?" Deidara chuckled, raising his fists and adopting a fighting stance.

"I have actually. Luckily, I have both." One of the clones replied before sending a long jab towards Deidara, who with expertise timing blocked it before sending a counter punch.

The other clone intervened and parried this one, before sending his own punch at Deidara's side. Deidara huffed slightly as he felt the full impact of the punch, but quickly recovered. He retaliated by sending a high kick towards a clone's head. The clone blocked it but stumbled a bit. Deidara saw his chance in swiftly swooped in, grabbing the clone by the collar and throwing him into air. He quickly turned around and sent a punch towards the remaining clone. Deidara and the clone sent kicks and punches at each other none of them really getting a solid hit.

However, the clone in mid-air wasn't quite done. He took out an explosive tag out and strapped it to a kunai, throwing it with expert aim at in Deidara's direction. Deidara sensed it and made a quick turn, grabbing the clone putting him in a position that used the clone as a human shield. The kunai hit him square in the stomach. The clone grimaced, but then smiled.

"Another failed attempt." Deidara muttered, grinning.

"Who said he was aiming for you?" The clone whispered back, then took out the kunai and plunged it down on the clay bird.

Deidara jumped off the bird just in time. A millisecond after he jumped off, the bird exploded so close to Deidara he could feel the heat protruding from it. He made a few position adjustments in mid-air before landing safely on the ground.

"Curse that brat." Deidara said through gritted teeth.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata gingerly skipped over buildings, her Byakugan activated. She couldn't even see past the towering fumes of smoke. She'd just have to get even closer.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Deidara stayed on guard, even though he could hardly see 5 feet in front of him.

"_Have to be on alert. That kid could be anywhere." _Deidara thought.

But he didn't have to wait long. Naruto rushed towards him, kunai in hand. He lunged at Deidara, but he grabbed his arm and twisted it backwards until he heard a familiar crack.

"_Ah, the sound of broken bones."_ He smiled.

But he disappeared in a puff of white smoke. And he wasn't the only one. More clones rushed at Deidara, and he had no hesitation in taking them down one by one. There were far less than the last army of clones Naruto had made, but they still heavily outnumbered Deidara. He dodged and blocked, relying mostly on counter-attacks to take out the clones. But then he heard a slight whirring sound coming from behind the clones. Suddenly they all attempted to grab Deidara. He dodged and weeded through them, until he got through all the clones and saw Naruto coming towards him with a ball of chakra in his hand that spun furiously. The clones didn't give up though, and they grabbed his arms and held him in place while Naruto ran towards Deidara, a victorious smirk on his face.

"If I promise you one thing, it's that this is gonna hurt! Rasengan!"

**A/N: Evil cliffhanger! Hope you guys weren't too disappointed in how long it took for this chapter to come out. And no, it wasn't writer's block. **

**Anyways, let's get on with the reviews. Oh, and by the way, I want to thank all of you for helping me get this story to 100+ REVIEWS! Thank you guys so much, I can't express how happy that made me. You guys are seriously the best fans ever. :')**

**Alright, before I start crying and have an emotional melt-down let's see the reviews!**

**himekassy-chan says:**

"This is my second time reading this story! its really AWESOME!

PLEASE UPDATE SOON! CAN'T WAIT TO READ MORE!"

**Second time? Wow, that makes me feel very honored, to say the least! I'm glad you like it, please keep reading! :)**

**CrackedUpAngel reviewed every chapter, so I'm not going to pick just one review, but I would like to give him a little shout out for getting me to 100 reviews, so I'll give him a FREE cyber cookie (Just this once)! Please keep reading!**

**RisingMist also reviewed every chapter. As for your suggestions, what I'm afraid of in having a beta reader is that I don't want a beta reader to ask me to change the plot and plans I have for this story. Do you see what I'm trying to say? As for Review Responses, it's the way that I connect with my readers. I'll probably take each Author's Note in this story off once it's completed, but for now I like having communication with my readers. Anyways, thanks for reviewing, your reviews really made my brain cells move, and please keep reading! :)**

**From Rosie Thornet:**

"Can't wait for the rest! What can I say I'm hooked ha, hope this review made you smile ")"

**All of my reader's reviews make me smile. They mean a lot to me and help me improve as a writer. Thanks so much for reading!**

**A good friendo of mine, Oceanmoon says:**

"Wow, interesting relationships between your characters. I look forward to this fight between Naruto and Deidara. This is all seeming pretty complex which can make a story difficult to control, but you are doing a fantastic job with it."

**All of you guys' nice comments are gonna make me burst into manly tears T.T Thanks for reviewing/reading!**

**From Chewie Cookies:**

"Yes, you may call me that. As for how to improve, maybe making the chapters a tad bit longer? Either way, I WANT MOOOOOAAAARR!

Keep up the good work!"

**And you shall get MOOOOAAAARRR! Thanks for reading! :)**

**Solvdrage says:**

"Awesome chapter as always.

Responding to Rosie Thornet's suggestion... For the love of god, don't include any Sasuhina. I despise that pairing with an almost unnatural hatred. I wouldn't go into a frothy mouthed rage at onesided-Sasuhina (from Sasuke towards Hinata), but requited Sasuhina would be an unspeakably huge negative in my opinion.

Cutting off my rant before it gets started... As I said, awesome chapter. I can't wait for more.

But remember, friends don't let friends write Sasuhina"

**Uhh… Yeah, I hate Sasuhina too *Quickly burns all Sasuhina plans for this story to avoid being a Solvdrage homicide victim*. Haha, no, I'm just kidding, what I meant was that I appreciate when people suggest things. Of course, it doesn't mean I'll use all suggestions, but it makes my brain gears move and it gives me ideas.**

**Alright guys, thanks so much for everything and please review. See you sooner than you think!**

**-Sky**


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